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The
Bradley American Admissions Report
Information,
tidbits, and snippets on American prep schools, colleges and universities
By Vincent G. Bradley,
MA, MED (April 22, 2006)
Member,
Higher Education Consultants Association
Member,
Overseas Association for College Admission Counseling
National Admissions
Scene
2006 “Unusually
Competitive Year” in US, writes WSJ. Grades not only factor……Princeton Rejects
83% of Valedictorians…..One student quits school to work with drug addicts… and
gains admission!
Who got in to the elite schools, like Stanford,
Cornell, Brown and Harvard? A boy who founded his own vegetarian club, an AIDS
activist, and a tuba player achieved acceptance. At Princeton, admissions
officers accepted only 17% of the 1,886 valedictorians who applied, according to
The Wall Street Journal.
The size of this year’s applicant pool, as well
as its high quality, made the task of admitting students more difficult than
ever for admissions officers. College officials responded by plugging talent
gaps in their student body. For instance, elite “small Ivy” Swarthmore in
Pennsylvania focused on potential majors in classics (Greek and Latin), as well
as Russian and German. University of Pennsylvania, the alma mater of Donald
Trump, sought tuba players for its marching band.
School activities, a social conscience,
and how you portray yourself in the admissions essay can make a critical
difference. How do the vast majority of students with perfect grades
and scores and a #1 ranking in their class get rejected? They run up against
the Adam Hoffman’s of the world --- these students have
excellent-to-near-perfect grades, but also possess that little extra something
that wows admissions officers.
Vegetarians and Drug Addicts
St Louis native Adam Hoffman earned a perfect
800 on his critical-reading SAT, and an outstanding 780 on his math section.
Most important, Adam wrote his college essay on the intolerance he experienced
as a vegetarian at a Boy Scout Camp, the WSJ reports. He was
admitted to Brown and Stanford, among 6 other schools.
“I think we’re all looking for kids who are
committed to something, extracurricularly, intellectually, and hopefully both,”
gushed Brown University Dean of Admissions Jim Miller to the WSJ.
Small-Ivy Swarthmore admissions dean Jim Bock
told the Journal about an applicant who took a year off to work with
AIDS-infected drug addicts. “How many high-school seniors would take a year off
to do that?” Bock asked. These are things admission deans “don’t forget,”
according to Bock. “Sometimes you do question, ‘Is this for real?’”
Bock apparently believed the AIDS worker was
“for real.” He was among the 18% admitted at Swarthmore.
Students Reject Ivy
Leagues; Families Weigh Dramatically Increased Merit Aid Offers to Top Students
at Lower-tier Schools….
Recognizing the burden of tuition and expenses
near 50,000 dollars per year, students like Lucas Puente have spurned offers
from Dartmouth, Stanford, and UPenn for …..The University of Georgia, reports
the WSJ.
Georgia made Puente a Bulldog by offering a
Foundation Fellowship, which covers his out-of-state tuition of $16,000, but
other costs, as well. The total package is worth $125,000. Less prestigious
schools have stepped up their Merit Aid packages, and merit aid rose to $7.3
Billion in 2004, up from only 1.2 Billion a decade earlier in 1994. The trend
is growing, and bright students like Puente can do the math.
High-achieving students are likely to thrive wherever they
go, according to “How College Affects Students.” Things families can consider,
according to the WSJ:
-
Bottom Line the total amount a family is willing to
spend.
-
When considering aid grants, also consider the costs
of postgraduate work.
Wait-Listed Students:
Squeaky Wheel Gets the………
It is important to follow-up a Wait-List letter with a
phone call, a request for an appointment and a package of work and materials to
sway the committee (if you are interested in the school). You must be
aggressive in making your case in order to move from the WL column to the
Accepted list.
Colleges Increase Use of
Waiting List; “Admissions Limbo” Reflects Uncertainty, according to Chronicle
In a year of exploding applications, very
competitive schools are unsure who will reciprocate the invitation for admission
– what colleges call their “yield.” This uncertainty in the admissions market
has led schools like Tufts University to put more students on the wait list for
fear of over-booking a class, according to the Chronicle of Higher
Education.
Tufts went through a painstaking process to
select 4,073 students from an applicant pool of 15,280 applicants. More
students decided to enroll at Tufts last year than Tufts admissions dean Lee
Coffin predicted. This has led Tufts to take 100 names from their admit list
this year, and place 1700 total students on the Wait List.
“At that point, we’re losing some really good
kids,” Mr. Coffin told the Chronicle. “Those were painful decisions to
make, but in the end we had to do it because of the models.”
Analysis: Admissions deans have
adopted the language of corporate leaders, sprinkling their comments with
“yield” and “models.” Students and parents must think the same way.
Junior Advice:
Important Advice for
Juniors:
Standardized Tests: Be sure to work hard and place
significant effort into prepping for the SAT, your AP Exams, and SAT IIs. Hard
work on the part of students will help improve your scores. You must work hard
on your own, as well as complete assignments for Test Prep.
AP Classes: Please keep in mind that more students
than ever are taking the AP classes and exams. Once the haven of a privileged
elite, AP classes have become democratized and widely enrolled, from elite
schools, like “Nobles,” to public school students in hardscrabble Newark, NJ.
Juniors should strongly consider enrolling in
an AP Class for senior year. As a taxpayer or tuition-payer, you have more
leverage than years ago and some schools are flexible and “open” in their
policies.
It pays to be assertive.
Over 20% of American students take AP
classes and courses ---and they are a very good predictor of how students will
perform in college. This is great preparation for college success. What is
more, as a senior you enjoy the benefit of a weighted GPA boost, while a college
does not need to see your score.
Study hard, however. A score of a 4 or 5
will often mean 3-4 credits, and some mid-tier schools will offer up to 6
credits for students in AP US History who score a 4 or 5 in a gambit to attract
academically-talented students. This is serious money, as well as flexibility,
should you want to finish a semester early or have a lighter course load.
Student-Athletes: Ask your coach(es) for an
evaluation of your talent level, and the kind of collegiate athlete you project
to be (if you are interested in pursuing athletics beyond high school). What
NCAA Division Level might you play at? Is Club an option? Would a year of
boarding school help prepare you from an academic and athletic standpoint?
You have worked hard for your coach. He or she owes
you some time to give a realistic evaluation of your talent and potential.
But often this will not happen unless you ask.
Global Admissions and
Jobs Challenge
Chinese Students Make
Beeline to United States For College; VISA Requirements Shift; Students Unhappy
with UK Colleges and Universities
Four years after the September 11 attacks, the
United States government is relaxing its stringent VISA requirements, according
to Chinadaily.com. Chinese students see the United States as a
better option for college and question the value of studying in the UK.
The London-based Financial Times
reported a drop in the number of Chinese students, and predicts the decline is
long-term. “…A number of (Chinese students who studied in UK) feel that the
expected returns from some degrees have not kept up with the huge increase in
fees (and) will choose to ….turn to the US, which is being more active than ever
in reaching Chinese students,” Pang Shaohong, who is studying in the United
States, told Chinadaily.com.
Analysis: This flood of students
will be an enrollment and admissions boon to mid-tier colleges and
universities. This will also make top tier colleges and universities even more
competitive as the Baby Boom’s “echo” enters college, and international students
already constitute up to 10% of Ivy League classes. As China’s economy continues
to hum, look for more of the 300 million people who have joined the
consumer-to-rich classes seek to send their ONE (CHILD POLICY) son or
daughter to the United States. Chinese parents can invest all of their resources
in ONE CHILD to learn English, American culture, and an understanding of
the land to which their parents export hundreds of billions in goods each year.
Studying in America is also understood to be a
good path to jobs at IBM, Google, GE, at their headquarters ---- in China.
Thomas Friedman’s runway best-selling book, The World is Flat (as well
as Ted Fishman’s NYT Bestseller, China Inc.,) demonstrates how
globalization affects admissions, and more importantly for B-School students:
the workplace after college.
VISA Regulations to US
Will Soon Change, according to US Embassy Official
The United States has been aggressive in
promoting its education programs in China, and will soon revise its restrictive
VISA policies, Frank Mok, US-China Education Resource Coordinator of the US
Embassy in Beijing, told Chinadaily.com.
Chinese students will be able to apply for a US
visa 120 days before the program starts instead of the 90 days now. Students
will also be able to arrive in the United States 45 days ahead of that date.
The tightening of VISA post-911 has been cited by Chinese students as a negative
factor in pursuing study in the US. The number of students studying in the
United States each year has been 60,000 since 2001, according to
Chinadaily.com.
Business Leader Robert
Stevens (CEO of Lockhead Martin Argues For More Engineers
Lockhead CEO Robert Stevens lamented a “looming
tech talent shortfall” in the United States in a WSJ op-ed. Between 1999
and 2003, China doubled its engineering students, while the US engineering grads
remained stagnant. Lockheed is looking to hire 14,000 tech-savvy workers per
year over the next three years, and most will have to meet strict security
requirements because of the sensitive nature of their work.
Stevens reports a major study ranked the US 24th
of 29 counties in 15 year olds math skills. In addition, 15 states saw
inflation-adjusted declines in teacher salaries.
The Prep School Scene
American Private Prep
Schools Continue to Weigh Heavy on Elite Admissions Landscape
Private American prep schools continue
to set the trend for supplying a pipe line to elite colleges. While over 90
percent of American students attend public school, Yale President Richard Levin
estimated that independent schools supplied 25% to 33% of students at highly
selective schools, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Boarding Schools Teachers
Perform Brilliantly as “Substitute Parents”
Boarding schools have been in the
spotlight in the United States, in part because of the best-selling novel
Prep. But little-noted is the outstanding job teachers at boarding schools
perform in caring for students, and acting as surrogate parents.
The classic boarding school teacher is a
so-called “triple-threat”: teacher, coach, and dorm parent. Karlyn McNall of
the Middlesex School in Concord takes care of her own young two sons, but also
impacts the lives of her students. “Technically, I am responsible for the
safety and whereabouts of the girls who live in my dorm at all times. That’s the
official description,” McNall told the Boston Globe. “In fact,
dorm parenting is more complex and important than that. Part of the mission of a
residential school is to teach people to live together respectfully and
comfortably. My role is to facilitate that…..”
Around Campuses
Cornell University Courts
Top Students
Understanding that acceptance does not
necessarily mean students will enroll, Cornell University hosts “Cornell Days
through April 17 for accepted students, according to the Cornell Sun.
“The mission is the ease the stress and
pressure on students and families while making the very important decision of
choosing which college to attend,” Cornell Days Chair Erica Hartwell ’06 told
the Sun.
Small-Ivy Swarthmore Sees
Applications Surge Nearly 20%
The total applications to Swarthmore increased
19 percent this year at Swarthmore due to publicity surrounding campus world
activism, according The Phoenix, Swarthmore’s student newspaper.
Applications surged to 4,850 and only 897
students were admitted – less than 18 percent accepted.
Ithaca College Breaks
Ground on Business School
Ithaca College will soon break ground on a new
building for business students, representing a significant investment on the
college’s part in the future of its business program.
“We hope to have students in the building by
the fall of 2007,” Fred Vanderburgh, senior assistant director of construction,
planning and design at Ithaca College told the ithacajournal.com.
The new building will be 38,000 square-feet, four stories, and will be a
leader in “green design.” The 3,780 square-foot green roof are also part of the
plans. The green roof’s intent will be to catch storm water, and then recycle
it through the building.
Engineering Elite Schools
Pull Pranks by Stealing Cannons
Two dozen Caltech students recovered a 111 year
old cannon that the merry pranksters from MIT had stolen from the California
Institute of Technology last month. The Caltech students rolled the Fleming
Cannon off the cobbled MIT courtyard, where the cannon had rested as a trophy
symbolizing the lively rivalry between America’s elite engineering and technical
schools, according to the Boston Globe.
The Andovers:
Taxpayers’ School Update
School Committee Budget
Fight
Town
officials are still fighting over cuts to the town’s capital plan. The School
Committee has dug its heels in for their 55.7 million dollar budget (8.4%
increase), even though Finance Committee Chairwoman Joanne Marden has signaled a
final offer of 54.9 (6.9% increase) million. The School Committee budget sees a
shortfall of 760,000 dollars for next year, though the budget does add 9
employees and funds school clubs, according to the indispensable
Eagle-Tribune.
“The School Committee believes that education
should be our top priority,” School Committee member Anthony James told the
Tribune.
Andover High Grads
“Climbing the Ivy League”
Local tab The Townsman reports
increasing acceptances of students to Ivy League schools in recent years. For
instance, in 2005 Andover High garnered 20 acceptances to Ivy League schools:
Brown (3 of 12 applications); Columbia (3 of 6); Cornell (6 of 19); Dartmouth (4
of 13); Harvard (0 of 9); Penn (4 of 18); Princeton (0 of 3); Yale (0 of 5).
In 2005, the most popular destination for
Andover High students was U-Mass Amherst (39), followed by UNH (14); Northern
Essex CC (12); BU (10); U-Mass Lowell (10); Syracuse (10); George Washington U
(9); BC (7); Salem State (5); Suffolk (5); Bentley (4).
Analysis: Andover High graduates fare
statistically better in the college admissions market than students at the
average American high school, according to admissions surveys. The Ivy League
acceptances, and those at schools like UNH, BC, and BU, are at a significantly
higher rate than the average national data; indeed, there is an “Andover
effect.”
This reflects the expectations of the
town’s parents, strong preparation in the home, the school system’s response to
increasingly assertive parents, and an attempted response to a 15% brain drain
to private schools after 8th grade (expanded AP classes, Level I,
attempts to restore funding).
North Andover School
Chief Search Called Into Question
When the North Andover School Committee
contracted with Future Management Systems, a Beverly consultancy, to hire former
Superintendent Harutunian in 2003, no one on the committee thought to
double-check, or engage in due diligence, according to townonline.com.
“The expectation of the search committee was
that the candidates had been scrubbed,” Jack Watkins told townonline.com.
“Looking back, I’m sure that had been done.”
Townonline.com reports that if
one school committee member had bothered to Google Harutunian’s name, they would
have found a website run by nearby Reading residents documenting ongoing
problems and issues with management, budget issues, building projects, and
communication between schools and public.
North Andover Schools
Chief Harutunian gets 187,000K …….to Walk Away After Affair with Secretary
As soon as Harutunian inked the buyout deal
with the North Andover schools, his page and presence was blacked out from the
district’s website – Kremlin-style.
If only the trouble would disappear that
easily.
The School Committee, according to
Boston.com, is still under fire for the size of the payout after a
private investigator found that Harutunian was having an affair with his
secretary and gave her a 10,000 dollar raise. In the midst of a budget crunch
threatening to cut 40 teacher positions, Harutunian spent up to two hours a day
on his cell phone talking to his secretary……..and billed the overages to
taxpayers!
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